The Impact of Trekking Poles on Respiratory and Metabolic Physiological Responses During Outdoor Hiking in Healthy Adults

Limited information exists on the effects of trekking poles on respiratory and metabolic physiological responses in outdoor (as opposed to indoor/treadmill) hiking settings on variable (i.e., non-well-groomed) long distance (>250 meters) terrain. Moreover, no study has examined the impact of one or two poles compared to no poles on physiological outcomes in any outdoor hiking setting. PURPOSE: To determine the impact one or two trekking poles has on respiratory and metabolic physiological responses during outdoor hiking compared to no poles. METHODS: 11 recreationally active adults (n=6 males, n=5 females, age: 24.9±6.5 yrs; height: 176.2±12.0 cm; mass: 76.8±13.1 kg) randomly completed three pole conditions (no poles, or 1 or 2 poles) during an ~10 min. uphill and ~10 min. downhill hike on the same trail. Participants respiratory and metabolic responses (e.g., total energy expenditure/TEE, oxygen consumption/VO2, ventilatory efficiency/VE, and respiratory exchange ratio/RER) were measured with a portable metabolic unit (Cosmed K5). A two-way ANOVA (pole condition x grade) with repeated measures was used, p<0.05. RESULTS: There were no significant effects for pole conditions (no poles, 1, or 2 poles) during uphill (data not shown) and downhill (data not shown), as well as the total combined hike for TEE (183.6±37.5, 186.2±41.7, 182.6±35.7 kcals, respectively; p=0.69), VO2 (1953.8±429.0, 2016.9±498.0, 1987.4±478.6 ml/min; p=0.30), VE (58.7±10.3, 60.7±12.9, 58.3±12.4, L/min; p=0.28), and RER (0.85±0.07, 0.84±0.06, 0.83±0.06; p=0.43). There was a significant main effect of grade (uphill vs downhill) for all parameters for each pole condition (data not shown) as well as averaged across the 3 pole conditions for TEE (108.5±22.0 vs 75.6±17.6 kcals; p=0.001), VO2 (2468.0±593.2 vs 1504.1±330.5 ml/min; p<0.0001), VE (71.0±14.8 vs 47.4±8.1 L/min; p=0.0002), but not RER (0.86±0.06 vs 0.82±0.06; p=0.099). CONCLUSIONS: Within the parameters of this study, hiking poles were no different than no poles for respiratory and metabolic physiological outcomes during outdoor hiking on variable terrain. Individuals who use trekking poles should be aware of these outcomes.